cable or wireless networking over a long distance?

16 years ago

I live in a rural area and I have a very long driveway. There's a cable box at the end of the driveway, but Time Warner says they won't install cable because our house is more than 300ft from the road. If I could convince them to go as far as they are willing to go, would it be feasible to build a box-like structure to house the equipment there, and prolong the network with a cable or wireless the rest of the distance?

If so, how far would be realistic? The service I'm most desperate to get is internet. TV and phone would be nice, but not essential. Any advice on how to go about networking? would pulling a cable be better than a one-direction wireless signal?

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Comments (4)

MongoCT
16 years ago
I have a 900' long drive, when I dug a trench for my utilities I added a third run of conduit with pull ropes for "down the road" cable.

A few years ago when we needed broadband internet, we bit the bullet. Comcast came out and pulled the cable no charge.

I'm not that knowledgeable about wireless cable outside the house. Sorry I can't offer much advice.

I would ask them how far they'd go, I'm guessing 300' is it? At least they could go that far, install a box, and you can continue the run to your house. I'm surprised they won't at least quote you an installation for the additional footage over 300'.
schwefel
13 years ago
You have a coupe options:

The max allowable distance for Ethernet (over Cat5/6 copper is 100m (about 330')

Fiber can run MUCH longer distances, depending on the specific type and speed.

You could run coax that far, on your own, but you would have to worry about signal loss and noise.

They can be run arielly or burried.

If it was me, I would build a powered hut just off the road and run fiber. (If I could not mains power it, I would look in to solar cells and batteres with the appropriate voltages. (All cable modems and media converts that I have seen are DC devices. No need to run DC->AC->DC, it is just a waste of enegy.)

If you want to know more and/or have specific questions, let me know.
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tjdabomb
13 years ago
Can you do Dish/Direct TV for cable and perhaps microwave wireless for Internet?? I don't know where you live to say with certainty if either is available.
David
13 years ago
A wire will be superior to wireless 80211 for applications requiring long distances and good data rates in excess of 54 Mbps.

80211 Wifi is best deployed in relatively short range situations where the number of connections is variable for example- 2000 sq ft home with multiple tablets, laptops where users are not too concerned with getting the best gigabit/ megabit transmission rates.

HD video streams are designed to work with 1 to 6 Mbps which really is the bottom end of Wifi rates.